the beginning of justice
by pheonixgirl14
Summary: a young girl decides to follow her dream of being a great warrior. but must disguise herself as a boy to do so. only the gods know if she will succeed.


_Prologue_

13. Thirteen is the most unlucky number, and my own personal crutch. I'm the bastard daughter of a cursed noble line, I am thirteen years of age and I was born on the thirteenth. This means I am an outcast. I was bullied as a small child for being unlucky and unfeminine and of course my family gave me a unisex name so it's even worse. The only thing I want in life is to be a great warrior but I am a girl so it is not likely that will happen, but there is always a possibility…

_Chapter 1_

The chill in the wind was persistent, the drunk noticed. And as he tightened his cloak he saw a young boy. The boy didn't seem to mind the cold. He wore an ordinary fur lined cloak and a white shirt and tan tunic with white breeches. His clothes would have been conventional except for there wearer, he was young and small probably about 13 years of age. His eyes were blue like liquid sapphires and his hair so blonde it looked like the sun itself, in fact if the boys hair was not so short he could have been seen as a women. He rode a white mare that looked like she could nip of your fingers without a second glance. The boy rode through the streets staring at all the colorful carts and shop windows like he had never been there before. The boy was evidently headed to the palace to begin his training to become a knight. The boy would start as a page for four years then he would be promoted to squire. If he managed to pass his four years of squiredom then and only then is he allowed to participate in the test of fidelity, veracity, and valor. If he would succeed and become a knight the drunk didn't know.

Justice of Tempora watched as the man in front of the pub stared. He raised his mug of ale and said "good luck to you lad," at first justice didn't understand but as the man took a swig of his ale she realized _He thinks I am a boy!! _justice sighed with relief,she was worried that people would see through her disguise but it seemed she didn't need to worry until her breasts came in. since her mother had died three years ago her father, who knew nothing about her, had been sending her and her older brother money until about two months ago when he was killed by bandits. All of his remaining money was sent to her and her brother along with his estates. Her older brother, as of late, had been locked in his study trying to manage his new estates and was in poor health. Although he never cared for justice much he wanted her to study with the southern priests at the palace in thanigara to learn to heal and control her magic, so that he could profit from her eventually. While her brother thought justice was going to study with the priests, justice packed and headed for thanigara to train to be a knight. Other than the fact that girls could not be knighted, justice was free of obstacles.

Neither her father nor her mother spent much time at court, so no one knew of her or her brother just that her parents were dead. Even when she was a child she had been good at using her weapons, she had been raised watching the people of her fief fight bandits and had to help as soon as she was able to hold a bow. She was a fair shot with a longbow and a crossbow and she could throw both axe and dagger with precise ease. She had a knack for weapons in fact she could use almost any weapon at hand in a fix. As she reached the palace gates justice looked back at the city shops and sighed she may not be able to see the streets again until the midwinter festival since pages were usually severely consumed in their bookwork and training. Justice turned and rode through the gates, she dismounted as a palace hostler and the page's training master came toward her. The hostler bowed and said "I'll take yer horse from ye lad; she must be tired after such a long ride. Mayhap what be her name?"

"Her name is Mora, and thank you for taking her; she deserves a rest," Said justice. The hostler took the reigns and bowed and walked toward the stables cooing softly to the horse. Justice turned her attention back toward the training master. He studied her appearance and nodded as if he had decided something. "Follow me" he said. He turned and walked briskly toward a row of six stone buildings. When he arrived at the first one he opened the door and walked inside. When justice walked through the door she was astounded at the sight of what must be the training master's office. There was a large desk in the center of the room with a comfy high-backed chair and large bookshelves on either flank. In front of the desk were two standard chairs and maps were stuck up on the wall. A small cough interrupted her stares. Justice turned toward the training master and studied his appearance. He was about 40 years old and had long mahogany colored hair that was slipped back in a ponytail. He had a long beard and a slight frame; in fact he looked rather frail.

"Sit" he said, "you must be justice of thanigara, and I am sir Quaren of Ellendale, your new training master."

Justice sat down stiffly, her muscles knotted together with anxiety as her training master talked. "Yes that's me sir. It's nice to meet you sir. I have my tuition here and …" she said as the training master cut her off. "Talk when you're told, otherwise shut up. Now hand me your tuition and I will give you a tour." He said.

Justice took a small heavy purse out of the sling bag she had on her shoulder. Justice dropped the purse into her new training masters waiting hand. He took the purse and overturned it into his hand. The training master counted the money as justice watched him. _I wonder if I will make it through the day without being hanged for fraud. I want to be a warrior but this is nerve racking! _Thought justice.

With a curt nod Quaren took the money and put it in a drawer that justice was sure had a lock on it. Quaren pushed his chair back and stood in one swift movement, he walked around his desk toward a shelf justice had not noticed. The shelf was adorned with gleaming gold trophies, each trophy was set next to a plaque, and each plaque had a number of names on them. The training master picked up the smallest and most delicate of the trophies and set it in the desk in front of justice.

It was a coveted polished page trophy. Every year, 4 of the best pages in each year competed in contests with each other, to see which page was the best. Then the remaining 4 pages were given small silver medals while their colleagues were given smaller copper medals. Then at the final exams for pages, who ever had the most silver medals was given a polished page. Having a polished page was a great mark of respect and if you had one your reputation was never questioned. "This is your goal for the next 4 years, you must strive to be the best or you will not make it here. If you strive for second place you should leave now, we train to be knights here. Now move your arse and lets get you a mentor."

The training master walked around her and opened the door then gestured for her to get out. She stood and walked out the door and the training master followed close behind. He strode down a pathway to the right of the building and pointed and named each building as he passed it.  
"That's the infirmary and that's the mess hall and those bigger ones are your classrooms were you will spend your mornings learning reading, writing, and arithmetic." He turned a hard right at the last building and pointed to a large covered area, "that is the training court were you will practice with your sword, dagger, etc.," he said. " right now the older pages are practicing their archery, lets see who will mentor you." He strode toward the older pages.


End file.
